370Z Clutch vs. 350Z Clutch

I test drove an 08 6spd 350Z yesterday and found the clutch to be very light, touchy and grabby compared to my 2004 325Ci. You'd have to be an idiot to stall or bog the BMW clutch...very sturdy and has nice hydraulic spring to it, and engages very smooth and progressive. (2003 M3 I tried felt exactly the same too BTW.) The Z was a bit of a bog/stall special in comparison, like trying balance the pedal on a knife-edge.

please tell me Nissan did away with the BS "dual-mass" flywheel in the 370Z?

That was their lame attempt to hide drive line chatter and it only helped a little. Made any attempt to put in a lightweight flywheel give you a cement mixer sounds from all the chatter. I hated that about my Z and is why I sold it.

Clutch definitely engages at a higher point. I test drove a base yesterday at Team Nissan of Marietta, GA. They have a black GTR on the showroom floor as well. Almost made me happy in my pants but that's OT. But its by far an easier drive clutch wise. It almost feels like driving a civic its so easy, but for some reason I miss the fact that I have to have a strong leg to get it down lol. They definitely made it fool proof.

when I drove my friends 04 it felt much stronger and took more strength to push down. My 06 feels much softer and has stuck to the floor once or twice.. The clutch in my 05 IS300 was stiffer and more controllable. I think Nissan is getting too soft on us, literally.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I test drove the [370] 6mt today. From an 03 prospective; I did not like the clutch. It was soft to the point of no clutch resistance at all; I kept looking for some feel to the point I thought my foot was going to push the pedal through the fire wall. Though, I did like the short shift.

I also drove the 7 speed auto, now those paddle shifters were fun. I thought the auto felt much faster off the line and from a 60mph roll. I would have to give serious consideration 6mt vs auto.

no,no..If you do a search, you will find exactly what I am talking about..The 07-08's all have an inline clutch dampner that slows fluid through the line resulting in a "cushy" high rpm gear change thus keeping the pedal to the floor for a quick second..
If you do a search for "clutch dampner" you will find other threads as well as pics....I guess if you 07-08 guys have never driven a 6mt from the 03-06 Z's it may just feel normal to you..

The clutch problem that you are thinking of only occured on a percentage of the 2007 Zs. It was recalled for the 07 models that were affected and the problem was fixed for the 2008 year models.

I test drove an 08 6spd 350Z yesterday and found the clutch to be very light, touchy and grabby compared to my 2004 325Ci. You'd have to be an idiot to stall or bog the BMW clutch...very sturdy and has nice hydraulic spring to it, and engages very smooth and progressive. (2003 M3 I tried felt exactly the same too BTW.) The Z was a bit of a bog/stall special in comparison, like trying balance the pedal on a knife-edge.

I don't know when Nissan will get this right. My 97 (e36) M3 clutch pedal was perfect - very easy to launch aggressively and perfectly every time and engagement was very linear. And it NEVER overheated. Slipping the 07 z clutch to get the car up on ramps is enough to cause a strong clutch lining odor.

I have an 07 350z and drove the 370 a few weeks ago - it feels the same. Very light (Which I don't mind), but very on/off which I hate - engagement is not linear at all. This is my biggest complaint with Nissans beseides paint quality (lack thereof) and poor resale value.

BMW is great, but even they know to outsource their transmissions to ZF, which bought Borg-warner in '72(?). ZF builds great trannies. and BMW nails the linear engagement trick.

Nissan still thinks they can build their own trannies. Not sure why they are still trying - other than to keep production costs down - which is more important than offering a better quality product to the consumer. I do like the short throw of the z compared to any MT BMW I have driven.

Most moders trannies have a regulator built into their hydraulic clutch lines to prevent damage due to abuse. But these are very easy to bypass. I have never noticed the pedal sticking to the floor in my 07 - not even for a fraction of a second - but i am not bringing home 1/4 mile times like Aceman ;-)

I am right there with ya..My 04.5 enthusiast clutch felt much better then the newer 07-08 clutches...

+1...

to kind of answer the OP, i sat in one for about 5 minutes playing with everything, including the clutch/shifter. it is very soft compared to the first few years of the 350. IMHO, it feels like it would brake under hard acceleration and shifts. i know this isn't the case in reality, but it plays with your head. i also sat in a 09-M3, same psychological conclusion, is this drivetrain going to brake on me!?

i like a little feedback when it comes to mechanical parts in my car and i like the slightly stiffer clutch pedal in my 4.5-350 with ACT setup. i wonder if switching to an aftermarket clutch in the 370z would improve this "problem"?

Hi All,
I have a 2008 model, I have been hearing there are problems with the clutch. got a few friends in SA who are racers and they too said this, hence the fact I am reading reviews.
I have done about 10000KM on my 350z and the clutch is still working! well I can drive the car... but i can hear a banging sound when I start the car and just take my foot of the clutch...

if anyone knows anything about this please let me know what wrong and if this is the dealers problem and should they sort this out?

I live in Mauritius and there are only a hand full of 350z here as the duty is 100% on cars, this is why the dealers don't know much about this problem....

Hi All,
I have a 2008 model, I have been hearing there are problems with the clutch. got a few friends in SA who are racers and they too said this, hence the fact I am reading reviews.
I have done about 10000KM on my 350z and the clutch is still working! well I can drive the car... but i can hear a banging sound when I start the car and just take my foot of the clutch...

if anyone knows anything about this please let me know what wrong and if this is the dealers problem and should they sort this out?

I live in Mauritius and there are only a hand full of 350z here as the duty is 100% on cars, this is why the dealers don't know much about this problem....

thanks

Do you mean while the car is in neutral? If so my first thought is to tell you it's normal. Then again, banging would be a harsh term for what I hear. Is it more of a rattle? If so.. I suspect you're hearing the good 'ole Z driveline.

Do you mean while the car is in neutral? If so my first thought is to tell you it's normal. Then again, banging would be a harsh term for what I hear. Is it more of a rattle? If so.. I suspect you're hearing the good 'ole Z driveline.

I recently sold my 2008 Touring 6 speed, and the rattle sound that plagues the 08's is very noticeable when you are in neutral with the clutch pedal out. Push in the clutch and the rattle sound goes away. Actually, your RPM's will drop slightly when your let the clutch out probably to keep the flywheel spinning and give us that wonderful rattle noise. The dealer advised this is normal so I tried two other 6 speed 08's and they all did it. Even thought they all do it, I don't think it speaks well for the longevity and quality of the clutch. Also, shifting from first to second was always notchy and not smooth like the other gears.

I have drive two 370 Z's and one 370 Nismo and they DON'T have the rattle sound in neutral and the shifter is noticeably smoother through all the gears. I have to believe Nissan made some improvements to the 09's, and they were long overdue.

One thing I did notice that seemed to be worse than the 08 I owned, is the road/tire noise especially at highway speeds. I know it's a sports car but the road noise gets old on a longer trip. So, I test drove three 09 G37's, one 6 speed, one with active steering and one of the new hardtop convertibles. The vert has noticeable cowl shake and doesn't feel or handle as well as the hardtops. The active steering is amazing, a noticeable difference around corners. However, to get the active steering you have to get a couple of other options like nav etc. so you're looking at about 48K WOW.

the clutch in my 04.5 was pretty stout... I wouldn't say I "abused" it... but I did give it hell (plus quite a few track events) and never had any problems from it.. I switched to a lightweight flywheel/clutch around 60k and the stock clutch still looked great...

The clutch in my 370 feels a lot the same to me... but it does have that brief slipping feeling when shifting at high RPM that my '04 didn't have...

I loathe the dual mass flywheels though... but the reasoning for the manufacturer to use them make sense... less noise, less shock to the driveline, better MPG, easier to drive...